It took Teebasha three months of intensive training with Kylo to be allowed to watch him in action. In spite of his cold and authoritarian behaviour towards her, he grew prouder and prouder of his apprentice every day. She was improving herself quite fast, which impressed both of them. It was obvious to both Kylo and Snoke that she turned out to be even stronger than her own mentor. Teebasha would never turn down an offer to be taught more about some aspects of the Force, or to be told where she failed and how she could fix her mistakes. However, Teebasha was getting bored of staying on board of the Finalizer, unable to go out and follow her mentor during his missions.

One afternoon as they fought in the training room, they heard an explosion in the Star Destroyer. Teebasha backed up from Kylo, her lightsaber in hand, and her face lit by the flashing red light of the alarm. The ground quaked for a short moment, confusing her. She overheard many hurried footsteps outside the room, and the voices of Stormtroopers raising in the corridors.

"Master Ren," she spoke, facing her mentor, "what's happening?"

"I have no idea," he replied, speaking loud enough to cover the unbearable noise.

He turned off his lightsaber, hanging it to his belt; Teebasha imitated him and got ready to leave. He hurried up to the door, gesturing to his apprentice to follow her. Before he even raised his hand to use a mind trick, the door flew wide open, revealing a fidgety Hux.

"Kylo Ren," he started, his face even paler than usual, "there are intruders on board. A TIE Fighter entered the main hangar, but it wasn't one of our TIE pilots. He's with the Resistance."

"And you let them in?!"

Kylo clenched his fists angrily and shoved General Hux in the wall on his right. Teebasha ran after him, internally laughing at Hux, who struggled to get up as he was a bit knocked out. She and Kylo silently made their way through the crowded corridors. How easier it was to cross them when you were accompanied by Kylo Ren: everyone would just clear the way.

"Bunch of idiots," she overheard Kylo grumbling unexpectedly, "incapable of guarding a hangar!"

Teebasha nervously stared at her mentor's back, her eyes focused on his asymmetrical cape bouncing against his spine. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a different-looking figure running through the perpendicular corridor. A tall black-haired man wearing a brown jacket.

"Master!"

Before Kylo even had the time to spin round to face her, Teebasha set off in pursuit of the stranger. The soles of her boots slammed on the steel ground, filling the smaller corridors with a deafening noise. She was like a cheetah hunting down a prey, the wind blowing back her braids and the thin messy strands of hair dangling on her forehead. Never had she thought she could run this fast. Surprisingly enough, she did not hear Kylo following her.

Was he trusting her? Was he waiting for her to return, completely furious?

Eventually, Teebasha caught glimpse of the brown jacket not so far in front of her. She waited until she was close enough to propel herself in the air and land heavily on the stranger. She immediately grabbed his wrists and pulled them behind his back, making him grunt. She held both of his hands with one hand, pushing his black curls with the other one.

"Let go of me!" he grumbled.

"I won't give you this pleasure, lousy swine!"

Loud, clanky footsteps echoed at the other end of the corridor, startling both of them. The hostage looked up, his chin painfully crashed against the steel floor. Kylo appeared, his spine straightened up and his torso sticking out. He knelt down before the stranger, his elbow resting on his leg as he stared at him.

A soft snigger came out from the speakers embedded in his helmet.

"We meet again, Poe Dameron."

"My dreams finally come true," Poe whispered sarcastically.

"Varn, let go of him."

Teebasha nodded and freed his hands, standing up and stepping forward, facing the stranger. The latter sat up on his knees, rubbing his chin covered in stubble. He looked up, his brown eyes landing on Teebasha, before flying back to Kylo.

"I see you have a new apprentice. Too bad you didn't manage to get Rey."

"Shut up, Dameron!" Kylo roared. "Stand up. Varn, make sure he doesn't escape. Follow me."

Kylo's apprentice grabbed Poe by the arm and suddenly pulled him up on his feet, annoyed by his slowness. She clutched the back of his jacket, earning a death glare from him, as they followed the tall man dressed all in black. They walked in a cold silence, staring straight ahead, not paying attention to anything happening around them. Once or twice, Stormtroopers tried to accost Kylo, but he would just keep walking, ignoring them.

A few minutes later, they reached a door in the middle of a large blue corridor Teebasha had never seen before. Kylo opened it, and the three of them entered it. The room was much larger than the training room, and a similar chair stood in the middle of it. However, this one seemed newer and more robust.

Teebasha shoved Poe onto the chair and fastened the restraints around his wrists and ankles. Poe heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes, staring at the ceiling afterwards.

The dark hooded figure approached the hostage and loosened the restraints, much to Teebasha and Poe's surprise. Both were staring at him with their eyebrows knitted together.

"You won't need those restraints," Kylo spoke. "I believe you had enough of them last time."

"How kind of you."

Kylo knelt down in front of the member of the Resistance and removed his hood. Poe shook his head, a look of disgust upon his face.

"What brought you here, Poe Dameron?" the masked man spoke.

"Oh, I just assumed that you missed me, so I thought that maybe I could come and say hello."

Teebasha grunted, and Poe turned to her. His dark eyes examined her thoroughly as he kept shaking his head. She crossed her arms across her chest, fixing her gaze on him.

"Why did you join them?" the hostage asked. "What made you choose their side? They are murderers. Your mentor… he's the one that killed Han Solo."

Poe's entire body suddenly tensed up and gagging noises filled the room. Teebasha threw a glance at her master, who had his arm outstretched, and his hand cupped in his hostage's direction. She heard him breathe heavily under his helmet, as though he was about to weep.

The young woman looked down and frowned. She knew Han Solo had been killed, but she had always thought that the rumours that said that the First Order had murdered him were untrue. It still sounded quite surreal to her. Han Solo was a smuggler, perhaps the biggest riffraff ever known throughout the Galaxy. Yet given Kylo's reaction, it was obvious that it could not only be a rumour.

Kylo unexpectedly lowered his arm, enabling Poe to catch his breath. The masked man started to pace up and down, his shoulders shivering uncontrollably.

"How does it feel like, huh?" Poe whispered as he rubbed his neck. "How does it feel like to watch life leaving someone else's body? I know you are used to this, Ren, but wasn't it a bit different this time?"

Teebasha stared worriedly at her mentor, who clutched the fabric of his own outfit and let out a low sob. She could not believe it: nobody had ever managed to get him into this state. Not so easily. It was so surprising that it felt like watching the highest and strongest monument collapsing for no apparent reason.

As for Poe, a lopsided grin had appeared on his face, as he understood he had pierced a hole through Kylo's mental armour. He let the tip of his tongue dampen his lower lip, and decided to end his game there.

"How does it feel like, Ren? Huh?" he repeated. "How does it feel like to kill your own father?"

Kylo stopped in his tracks; Teebasha held her breath. She stared at her mentor with round eyes, suddenly seeing the light about what Snoke had said to him on her first day. Your father will never get on our way again. Everything finally made sense, and it struck her like a lightning bolt.

Yet the most astounding thing was to know that Kylo Ren was so closely related to Han Solo.

The masked man stood in the dark, his back facing Poe. His whole body was shaking, and his helmet now felt like a cage. Even worse: the aching pain he felt in his heart triggered a throbbing physical one to his face.

"SHUT UP!" he roared despite the lump in his throat. "SHUT UP!"

The room fell silent, although Kylo's sobs and grunts would sometimes disrupt its uncomfortable quietness. Teebasha seemed frozen, not knowing what to say or do. Poe was staring at his host, feeling he was about to say something else.

Kylo collected himself and eventually turned to Poe, walking up to him again. He knelt down before him and locked eyes with him.

"You're here to see what the First Order's next move will be?" he asked, his changed voice sounding neutral again. "You'd like to know if we're going to build another weapon to destroy the Ileenium system?"

"That's kind of why I'm here, yes."

"Supreme Leader Snoke ordered General Hux to supervise the construction of a new base, which would be located in the Unknown Regions. It will be similar to Starkiller, but twice bigger and twice stronger. Once it's fully operational, Supreme Leader Snoke will lead it himself."

"Uh, no offense, but… we kinda blew it up easily," Poe observed before frowning. "By the way, why are you telling me all that? Aren't we supposed to be enemies?"

Kylo stood up and did not answer him. Instead, he walked over to Teebasha and whispered to her.

"I'm going to give my permission to the control room to let a TIE Fighter leave. You're going to take Poe Dameron there and let him go. We won't track him. You'll find his shuttle on the fifth row, and it'll be the one at the top, so nobody will see him. I know you remember the hidden paths."

"Yes, but… Kylo Ren, wh–"

"Do as I say."

Teebasha took a deep breath and nodded. She watched Kylo leaving the room and hurried up to their hostage, holding out her hand.

"Hurry up, you're leaving."

"Leaving?" he repeated with a frown. "What the hell's going on? I don't get it!"

"Neither do I."

Poe jumped on his feet, declining Teebasha's help. She took out handcuffs from under the chair and pretended to fasten them around Poe's wrists. She grabbed him by the arm and both left the questioning room. They encountered a few Stormtroopers, ready to cuff them, but they immediately recognised Teebasha and let them go.

The member of the Resistance looked all around him and glanced at the young woman.

"You really have no idea what's going on?" he questioned her. "Kylo Ren was acting quite weird."

"I'm just as surprised as you are," she answered in a slightly trembling voice, nervous and overwhelmed by everything that was going on at the same time, and all the information she had to take in.

"What's the plan, then?"

Teebasha dragged him to a deserted corridor and rubbed her forehead. She made sure nobody was around, and spilled the beans.

"I'm taking you to the main hangar. Kylo Ren is at the control room, giving the permission to a TIE Fighter to leave the ship. You're going to leave aboard this shuttle. If I'm not mistaken, you're Poe Dameron, the most talented pilot of the Resistance."

"Most talented, I don't know, but I'm a pretty good pilot. I can fly basically everything."

"Alright, then that should be a piece of cake for you. You're going to fly back to your base in the Ileenium system and tell your leaders everything Kylo Ren has told you. I can assure you that we won't track you and that it's not a trap."

"How do I know that the information Ren gave me is reliable?"

She blinked and leant closer, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Listen, I'm still new here, but I'm telling you that Kylo Ren would never divulge such important information to anyone. I don't know why he told you, since you're definitely not on the same side, but he did. And I can assure you that it's all true. I was there when Snoke told him what he planned to do to wipe out the Resistance."

Poe nodded and tried to take in all the information he was getting. Teebasha gestured him to follow her, and they made their way to the hangar, sometimes pretending to go meet Kylo. When finally, all the corridors were clear, she turned to the pilot.

"By the way, how many of you are on board?"

"There's only me. We made them believe there were plenty of us inside, so I could easily sneak in the ship. My friends are outside, most of them already flew back to our base."

"Cunning plan," she chuckled. "Anyway, follow me. Here's the secret path to reach the ship without being bothered by all the Stormtroopers or Captain Phasma."

They snuck through a narrow corridor, walking one behind the other. Teebasha pointed at the shuttle and freed Poe of his cuffs.

"Good luck, Poe Dameron."

"Good luck to you too. Wait, what am I saying?"

The young woman laughed and shook her head.

"I can feel that something about Kylo's about to change. But I don't know what it is."

"I hope it's for good. I still don't understand why you joined them."

"I didn't join them for their policy. I accepted to be Kylo Ren's apprentice only to learn more about the Force. I don't care about the rest."

Poe raised his eyebrows in surprise and nodded his head. He started to head towards the TIE Fighter but stopped in his tracks; he slowly spun round to face her again.

"By the way, what is your name?"

"I'm Teebasha Varn."

"Teebasha Varn… Quite nice."

They shared a smile and Poe entered the ship, which overlooked the entire hangar. Teebasha moved forward and threw a look inside, noticing Kylo in the control room, giving instructions to the people working in there. The engine of the TIE Fighter started to roar, which startled her. She backed up and noticed the chain tied to its back letting go of it. She watched the shuttle as it rose and suddenly flew out of the Star Destroyer.

Finding herself alone, Teebasha clenched her fists angrily and abruptly turned around to go back to the training room.

Some things needed an explanation.